unless congress gets its act together soon, america faces a fall off the fiscal cliff. cnn has just learned democrats are now willing to compromise on the tax threshold. they're now willing to raise taxes on incomes over $450,000 instead of $250,000. while the two sides have called in their so-called closers to work behind the scenes -- vice president biden and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell -- they're not offering much hope for an 11th hour fix. let's bring in chris, our reporter from the national journal, working the story on capitol hill all night and into the morning. what's new in the developments here that makes us think we're any closer to stopping the fiscal cliff? >> when you guys came in, i thought your bumper music might be "final countdown" as we get near the cliff. what's new from what i have learned since talking to some senate aides before coming on with you guys is that there's no deal yet, but republicans are going to huddle here later this morning, and that indicates to me with some of the news coming out of here that democrats moved to 4:30 th